Mental Health Awareness in Social Media

by: Kyle Antonio

Mental illnesses aren’t going away. This is probably due to the fact that most people often disregard it as being ‘not big of a deal’ compared to other diseases such as cancer or cardiac arrest. In the recent decades, surveys show that there had been an increase in individuals suffering from mental illnesses. Coincidentally, during the rise of social media.

Social Media | Photo by Lhyzie Bongon

Most of social media platforms’ target audience are of the youth; particularly those individuals born between the early 1980s ‘til the early 2000s. Which explains why most people dealing with mental illnesses are those individuals that belong to a set of people called the ‘millennials’ and those of the ‘centennials’. With this, we are in an era in where we are more connected than ever before; all the more possibility of being vulnerable against mental illnesses.

Social media allows one to express him or herself more freely; and from this freedom paves way into the making of toxic environments across the internet. In these places, we often see people humiliate, defame, and degrade each other. One may find him or herself in these said environments and without a doubt, experience at least a slight hint of fear of being the target of the things aforementioned. Because of this fear, some individuals suffering from anxiety tend to suffer severely. Some cases even lead to depression.

The Prevalent Use of Social Media | Photo by BusinessWorld

The increase in people, particularly in the youth, suffering from mental illnesses will only gradually continue to grow in our current state. It is time for the country to realize that mental health among the youth is getting worse. These illnesses will have a major impact in the years to come in the aspects of work efficiency and quality of living. In worst case scenarios, these imparities might even lead to insanity among the youth of which crime may spawn from. We need to remove the stigma against people who struggle with mental illnesses from our society and start taking this problem seriously if we hope to have a stable country in the years to come.